Posted on 12/13/2022 9:24:27 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The Epoch Times reported, "Canadians are now waiting longer than ever before if they need to see a specialist, obtain diagnostic procedures, or undergo surgery, according to a new survey.
"This year, an estimated 1,228,047 Canadians are waiting for procedures in 10 provinces. This is roughly 3.2% of the country’s population, assuming each person is only waiting for one medical treatment.
"The Fraser Institute says that in the nearly 30 years it has been documenting how long it takes for patients to receive necessary medical treatment, this year’s wait time of 27.4 weeks is the longest."
Reading that, I wondered what the wait time was in the United States.
I poked around the Internet and found the answer at several places. The most recent (September 15) was by Sara Heath.
She wrote, "The average patient appointment wait time is up 8% since 2017 and 24% since 2004, with the latest data from Merritt Hawkins showing it takes around 26 days for a new patient to get an appointment with a provider in 2022."
26 days, not weeks.
A week is 7 times as long as a day.
Thus, Canadians are waiting 7 times as long to see a specialist than Americans are.
Americans are alarmed at having to wait nearly a month to see a specialist while Canadians seem content to wait more than six months to see one.
Heath quoted Tom Florence, president of AMN Healthcare physician search division, who said, "Physician appointment wait times are the longest they have been since we began conducting the survey. Longer physician appointment wait times are a significant indicator that the nation is experiencing a growing shortage of physicians."
America's doctor shortage stems in part from the slowdown in imports from India, the Philippines and other nations that are now prosperous enough to allow a doctor to earn a good living.
Perhaps we can import doctors from Canada.
Nonetheless, Canadians are quite proud of their health system. It's free, they say.
But it is not free. Canadians pay for their system in time and the chances they take by waiting for a doctor.
While they look down their noses at the trillions of bucks we spend each year on health care, the fact is the U.S. government covers almost all the costs for nearly half the nation. Medicare covers 60 million old people (and a few others). Medicaid and CHIP cover 90 million poor people and children. There are overlaps as some people qualify for both.
The difference in health care is in the goals of the two governments. Canada set up its Medicare program in 1968 to reduce costs.
The USA set up its Medicare in 1965 to reduce the poverty rate among the elderly. The poverty rate was 28% for the elderly in 1966. Today, it is 10%.
The USA also set up Medicaid in 1965 to cover the poor. The poverty rate was 14% then. It is 11% today.
Canada has succeeded in controlling health care costs. The National Library of Medicine reported, "The United States spends nearly twice as much per capita on health care as Canada: $7,290 per person in the United States in 2007 compared with $3,895 per person in Canada."
The gap between the two countries has not changed much in the intervening years as Canada succeeded in keeping costs down while the USA succeeded in getting grandma off the cat food diet.
But the waiting time for health care shows Canadians don't get the same quality of care. Early detection is a factor in beating cancer.
Right now, 3% of Canadians are in a six-month wait to see a doctor.
The situation reminds me of the Fram oil filter ads from 50 years ago: You can pay me now or you can pay me later.
But there is some hope. 90% of Canadians live near enough to schedule appointments in the USA.
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RE: Wait times have also gone up in our healthcare system in the past few years
Where do you live?
I see pt’s in multiple states. Let me help you.
Search: shortage of physicians in the USA
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